Report: Arsenal tempted by old boy Vela

According to journalist Enrique Marin of Spanish publication Vozpopuli, Arsenal are trying to re-sign Carlos Vela.

The 25-year-old Mexican only quit the Emirates for Real Sociedad two years ago but it’s been suggested the Gunners are ready to activate a €4 million buy-back clause they inserted in his contract on his departure.

An important part of Sociedad’s attack since an initial loan deal in 2011, Vela has flourished in Spain netting the goals his potential always threatened in England. This season he’s bagged 18 goals in 44 appearances dovetailing impressively with French international Antoine Griezmann, himself linked with the Gunners in the recent past.

The report claims that Real Sociedad could have sold Vela and paid Arsenal a percentage of the sale total, however, their failure to do so has left them vulnerable to an opportunistic swoop by Arsene Wenger.

Vela’s current contract at the Estadio Anoeta lasts until next summer and it remains to be seen whether he’d want to return to London. The existence of a buy-back clause is one thing, the agreement of personal terms quite another.

As always Arseblog News suggests the above be taken with a pinch of salt. That the clause in his contract not only exists but is public knowledge means it was only a matter of time before someone decided to run a story about a return to Arsenal. Cheap hits always whet the editor’s appetite…not here though. *cough*

Of course, there are good reasons to buy Vela. He’s a striker – we need one of those – and he’s currently available below market value.

There’s even the suggestion we could buy him and sell him on again within the same window thus raking in a tidy profit in the process. The problem with that is Arsene Wenger isn’t the type to treat Vela like a commodity to be traded at whim…this isn’t Championship manager after all.

158 COMMENTS

‘Arsenal can come back for me at €4million (£3.3m) at any time, which is €1million more than Real Sociedad paid. I look at things differently these days and I won’t close the door on Arsenal, or any team in England. I think I’m better prepared to play in another country now.’

1) Vela > Loic Remy
2) Can play as a striker or on the wings
3) Sounds like he’s matured since the departure
4) Always had the talent, just didn’t get the opportunity
5) Can use his pace (solely missed that when Theo’s season ended)
6) Cheap, meaning plenty of money will be available for other critical signings

Seen a few videos of him – I’m pretty sure he still has pace, he’s only 25 after all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVjKMy5kmrQ
From the looks of this he’s thriving off a great partnership with Griezmann, not sure if he could do it on his own and in the PL, but at £3.3M would be a great buy and a nice option to have.

What? This isn’t championship manager? It must be Fifa then. Just offer 1.5m and Djourou when he returns from loan and that should get him. If he’s unsure make sure we state he is an important first team member and give him a 5% scoring bonus. You’re welcome.

Not on Fifa yet. And for the record, has anyone played Arsenal since the April update. Giroud is literally unplayable, so, so slow and has the touch of a deck chair. I guess his critics would argue….. nah, not going to go there.

Yes I fully agree we should sign Diego Costa as our backup striker, that will show we mean business. Vela as back-up striker? Wenger’s taking the piss. We can’t show unambitiousness in any department at all.

And resigning Fabianski as back-up keeper? Arsenal fans sure are unambitious, we need Sebastian fucking Frey I keep telling you for years.

Couldn’t resist, best goal no 3 was against my country during one of Arsenal’s tours to Asia., where I saw him score it with my own eyes. Oh Sociedad, you’ve put some meat on ‘im. My my my how’ve you grown.

It might be true, however I’m fairly certain that Arouna Kone moved from Sevilla to Levante permanently after a loan (they bought him after the loan). He didn’t play a game for them after the permanent deal and they sold him to Wigan.

I think the ruling is something along the lines of not being able to play for more than two clubs. Example being Demichelis who moved to Atletico last summer from Malaga only for City to buy him shortly after

Look he’s a way better option than Bendtner or Sanogo(currently), we shouldn’t even dither around 4 million for a quality player is peanuts plus he’s not going to the World Cup so we can do this deal early.

Vela is a very good buy for his price, I think the only problem would be if we buy him only and not spend on another forward/striker. Even though he would solve our overplaying Giroud problem, Vela has been playing on the right wing for Real so we’ll still need a striker. Even if we were to play him as a striker, we’re losing Nicky B which would mean our third striker option would be Sanogo who is decent but IMO needs a loan. Top clubs should have 3 good strikers or 1 Great striker and 2 decent ones, can’t have just 2 good strikers for the whole season. I mean if Giroud or Vela gets injured for a month or more then we’ll have the same relying on one striker problem as we did this season.

It’s highly unlikely that Wenger will sign a world class striker. So getting this deal done early would allow us to concentrate on other key signings.

We can always go for Draxler and try to convert him to a striker. In the meantime, let’s face it. Realistically, there isn’t a world class striker available that would be “affordable” for Arsene’s taste and worst case scenario, we sign a holding midfielder, Sagna replacement, backup GK, and if we still have money left over, we can go after Draxler as a long term project. (With Vela already signed, with ability to play as a striker or on the wing)

We all know that Wenger isn’t going to play him as a striker anyway. He’ll be played on the wing just like Podolski.

Wenger likes a big striker who can hold the ball up and bring others into play so we still need to bring in a striker in this mould. Who that will be, I don’t know because I don’t see us buying Cavani or a superstar like that. Morata maybe, because he is similar stature, is young, technically gifted and could be got at at reasonable price.

Agreed, Wenger wanted Giroud to be the hold-up guy because none of our midfield(barring a fully fit diaby) can do that job. If we find a powerful box-to-box midfielder with good holdign and attacking skills, we can then play a pacy striker who may not have great hold-up skills.

I don’t think the problem has been us not having a ‘world-class’ striker, but rather a player that makes those runs that forwards like to make. Buying someone like Draxler along with Vela will probably be just what we need. They are both good finishers and fairly quick. The player doesn’t have to be a striker to score goals, just look at Yaya and Ramsey. I think the issues lie in the defensive positions more (LB, DMF, CB).

Marin’s record with Arsenal news not great so I’m very much waiting before I lock this one in.
Vela isn’t a super exciting prospect and I have doubts over his suitability to the English game, but there’s no doubting that there’s hardly a better value proposition at the moment and saving money on one player could mean increased spending elsewhere.

Well, he plays on the wings for sociedad(like griezmann). He is also versatile, quick and affordable, but I am not sure if he can adapt to english football(given that he had problems in his first spell)

City didn’t have a striker that produced 20 goals this season (yes we know they’re almost all 20 goal-quality), but what they had were midfielders/wingers/teamplayers making runs and blasting goals left and right, and they won the league.

Keep up mate, saying Walcott is a headless chicken is almost like saying Arsenal need a world class CB these days. Both so bloody inaccurate yet people think it’s true due to lazy journalism. If anything those are the exact areas Theo has improved of late. Makes good runs, knows exactly whether to pass or shoot and executing them well.

He seems to have matured both on and off the pitch. I would sign him if I was Wenger. €4m is very low for a player who has had 3 consecutive good seasons in Spain and is only 25 and also knows Arsenal.

He says he’s ready to play abroad now. We have nothing to lose if we sign him. He’s fast, an excellent finisher, and versatile.
(Not to mention an 82 rating with 87 potential on FIFA 14, so he can’t terrible.)

Absolutely. And that will be a huge factor as we progress towards more “Ozil-esque” signings as a club. It is an important factor – less so for Arsenal than other clubs, but still important. We need eight “homegrown” players in the 25-man UEFA squad.
Defined as players “who, regardless of their nationality, have been trained by their club or by another club in the same national association for at least three years between the age of 15 and 21. Up to half of the locally-trained players must be from the club itself, with the others being either from the club itself or from other clubs in the same association.”

It could happen. Vela plays more as a winger and we already have Walcott, the Ox and Gnabry playing there. He could be a very good backup as the Ox is more versatile across the midfield and the young Gnabry could be loaned out.

Walcott and Vela can potentially rack up 15+ goals and assists per season which would get us closer to the number of goals scored by LFC and City. They will give some directness and end product to our game (which we lacked this season with Theo’s injury).

Sanogo and Giroud – that’ll strike fear into the hearts of our opponents.

I think Wenger will realize that to actually win the league he needs another Henry-like mega-talent. Comparing our current team with the 10 year old one it’s that magic upfront that we’ve been missing.

Spurs were occasionally scary when they had Bale. Now they’re just a 100m bunch of turkeys.

People forget that Henry became a mega talent at the club. Not before. Carlos would make a nice addition to the squad. We could do with some pace on the left or the right, besides, it will take a while for Walcot to make it back to the form we know him for. Also, we need players to come in and help us secure CL, and also to win the shield for us.

Would be awesome to have him back.

Just wondering what the squad would be like if we got Song, Fabregas and Vela back.

This could definitely work as a wing/striking option. Agreed we still need the PROPER frontman, but this would be a good addition to the squad if all parties concerned were happy (Sociedad probably wouldn’t be).

Vela RW with Walcott being our pacey striker? Can even alternate, would definitely not be against him rejoining, seems to have grown up and have seen him a good few times for RS this season and he was quality! Wouldn’t be opposed to a double swoop for him and Griezman

yup. there’s already a need for rb, cb (maybe 2), and gk just to tread water. additionally, dm is uncertain (who knows if flamini will be back), and arteta needs to be rotated a bit, and do we go for a winger given that theo will miss the start of the season (doubt it)? so, yeah, carlos would fit the bill.

Maybe it’s just me but I’m not too concerned about our purchase of a striker. I’m quite happy with giroud and sanogo, another attacking option in front would be nice. It’s just all our best strikers over the past 17yrs were players that were coached into the role. Do any of you remember a single high profile striker we purchased that went on to score more than 20 league goals a season? Going back I can’t remember one. What I will say though is this. If a high profile striker is available I would expect us to sign them. But I won’t be losing any sleep if we dont

“this isn’t Championship manager after all.” Oh do I wish all the “hey wenga, y u no get costa and cavani and ronaldo and messis dogwalker??” would read that line over and over again before the transfer window opens.

Seems to be the perfect type to play-off Giroud, who has excelled this season when Wilshere and Ramsey have done that. Giroud’s instinct, despite getting 20-ish goal himself this season, is to set-up players running past him and Vela would serve that purpose. With Giroud’s 20 goal and Vela’s 15 they’d have a decent return as a partnership.

Think he is a great buy at 4 million pounds. Would we need to buy another striker though because I feel he is more of a winger now. I really like the idea of Bony but Swansea want a shit load for him. But honestly these conversations are nice and all but we know no transfer will happen until about 2 weeks before the season when all our main targets are gone. I can’t enjoy transfer windows anymore because I always would get my hopes up and end feeling let down.

There’s a chance that vela might be the best we can get this window. There is not exactly a glut of “world class” strikers available. Costa and possibly Cavani. Costa is most likely going to Chelsea. We could go for Cavani, but we’d need to splash some cash and we’d have competition. A striker with Vela’s stats would be an excellent buy at 4-5x that price.

Didnt understood why he was sold in the first place.he reminds me of bobby alittle.the finishing his touches and cheeky chips.neither of them have blistering pace,but their positioning to recieve the ball is pretty predatory and who can forget about thier classy finishings.last time i would always thought that in the future it would be walcott and vela upfront with ramsey and wilshere bossing the midfield.it kinda seem to be happening.hooray for this cheeky bugger

Can only see him being third string, TGSTEL replacement IF that superduper monster-ific striker is signed as well. He had some pretty goals, some beaauuuutiful chips when he was here last, but they were pretty sporadic and there wasn’t enough of them. Granted, he didn’t get the playing time to up his level of play, and I think the same would happen if he came back. It is also the reason he wanted to leave in the first place. I can’t see him even wanting to come back without some guarantee of play time. But at 4 mil, if he wants to, go for it. Just don’t let it be the only striker signing, Wenger.

Reminds me a bit of a file I had on football manager, as arsenal of course. Had the option to buy this lad (scouts said he was decent good skills finishing whatever even though he showed barely any promise first time he was at arsenal) and didn’t take it. Regretted it hugely, Sociedad sold to barça for £20 million in January and I got the sack only a few months later.

Seeing a bit of him on YouTube doesn’t mean we should sign him or that he is better than Loic Remy. These are just rumours I hope because the Carlos Vela that I know only scored a handful of goals when given a lot of opportunities at arsenal first time round. Why are you talking about his pace? This is just silly. Why would we buy an average player? How do you know he’s matured? What does that even mean? Was that even the problem first time round? Or his physical strength? Or was he just not good enough? Sounds like a step backwards to me when we have a good opportunity to push on this summer.

If Wenger didn’t value vela he would not insert a buy back clause into his sale to Sociedad, he was young player than and wenger knew he need the experience to cut in premier legaue in the highest level of the game like he did get at real.s vital experience in the league and the champions league, and if we get him back, now he is read to play vital role in our future team.

As I remember him, Vela was mostly good for scoring the fourth goal in an easy 4-1 win, nearly always with one of those chips of his. Didn’t he also lose his passport before a CL match once and have to stay in London?

I have not watched him in Spain so I have no idea if he’s the same player. Don’t we need someone on the left more than on the right anyway?

I always thought Vela was a fantastic talent and could see why Arsene has so much faith in him. I hope we do sign him back because he’s a technically gifted player who I think makes fantastic runs and understands how to play in an attacking system.

To answer your question though, Vela needed a change in scenery. He was going through a lot (though mostly his own doing) and was probably not happy in London anymore. Arsenal is a tough place to ply your trade as a youngster considering the amount of pressure is put on you to preform due to the pre-conceived notion of being a young talent chosen by Wenger, and the nature of the club. Also it makes no sense in sending out a player on loan when he’s already been loaned several times and is unhappy at the club. Sending him to Real Sociedad was a good move, it’s a club that’s relatively obscure that focuses on a similar footballing philosophy to ours. Plus, it placed him in a league that was less intense but technically competent while putting him in an environment similar to where he grew up giving him the time to start fresh and continue to develop. Shit.. I don’t know why I wrote all of this. I guess I’ll do anything right now to spend less time writing this essay that I couldn’t give two shits about haha.

What would we do with him? We have Giroud, Sanogo and Akpom up front for next season and on the wings we have Ox, Walcott, Podolski, Gnabry and potentially Draxler. Can’t see the point even if £3.4m is a complete steal.

Go to the Spanish league stats. Vela is practically in every top ten list: goals scored, assists, attempts on target, but most importantly (and usually ignored) he is the number one at getting fouled (more than messi, costa or neymar by far). I regularly watch RS games and this is the key of vela’s game. Im not saying he dives im saying he is smart to know when to sprint and when to stop so that he is actually provoking the foul. The problem is that when fouls are not given then basically it count as lost ball. If this happens often vela losses his confidence and eventually becomes useless.

What’s the deal with Wenger and Vela? He is ridiculously obsessed with him and he even did not want to let him go last time around, like no other player. Seriously, I am not sure what is it that Wenger sees in him.

Always liked Vela. Would gladly welcome him back to arsenal. Plus we are short of natural left footed wide men. We have plenty of right footed but podolski is our only lefty. You could say santi as well, but I don’t even think Santi knows which is his natural foot anymore.

Great news. If that buy-back clause information is accurate, I would be amazed if we did not trigger it, unless Wenger somehow has deep reservations about Vela.
If Vela was still an Arsenal player out on loan, I think everyone would be eagerly awaiting his return after his massive improvement in Spain (witness some excitement over Joel Campbell playing in a vastly inferior Greek league and one goal against some shit mid-table Manchester team in the CL). And if Vela hadn’t already played for us, we would be very excited at getting such a player at an incredible price.
Vela still has room to improve, he knows both the club and manager, and – *very importantly* – counts as “home-grown” for UEFA purposes. He could rotate with both Theo and Podolski, or even play up top as the mobile striker, and gives desperately needed depth to all three positions. And he is naturally a left winger, of which we have absolutely none (although RS play him on the right).
I personally think Sanogo and possibly Gnabry might develop more quickly with long loan spells next season somewhere they could play regularly, so we might need a *lot* more depth in all of the forward positions. Also, Theo might not be match-fit by the start of the season. And given that Vela is not even going to the World Cup (despite being one of Mexico’s best players) after falling out with the national team, I see ZERO downside. Absolute worst-case scenario, he is sold for a tidy profit back to Spain after occupying TGSTELs now-empty squad place for a while.
[Activate contract dungeon].

It’d be so awesome if we could get him back for that sum it’s a massive bargain xD And as previous folks said it would give us more resources to buy a good replacement for Sagna and maybe add some world class to our already quite capable squad!

Benzema is a possibility (In Telegraph today). Contingent as I have been mentioning since last summer is if/when RM buys a new striker (and on other overly rich teams movement ahead of us)

30-40m ball park.

Wild card is Falcao. If Chelsea or RM do not move for him we may get a window. He will be less long term but should bring a significant immediate impact. OTOH if Liverpool sell Suarez, they will also be competition (along with some other teams in Italy if they have the money)